Showing posts with label tuna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tuna. Show all posts

Fish Hooks Made of Shell Found in Timorese Cave

The Timor region is a fascinating place to study early humans. At the eastern end of East Timor fish hooks made from shells have been found. They were among bones of more than 2,800 fish.

Jerimalai cave was a home for humans up to 42,000 years ago. The fish hooks were used between 23,000 and 16,000 years before the present. Deep sea pelagic fish were the target food. Tuna bones were abundant.

Professor Sue O'Connor based at the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University led the research. The varieties of fish identified showed that ancient humans were skilled fishermen. Fishing for tuna is complex even today.
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Anthropology

Man Caught Deep Ocean Fish 42,000 Years Ago

Our ancestors not only fished rivers and the coastline. They caught marine food in the deep ocean. It is known that people travelled across oceans 50,000 years ago. However, proof that they could catch fish in the deep sea went back only 12,000 years.

New evidence shows that Man ate fish from the ocean further back than 12,000 years. In caves on the island of East Timor remains of tuna and other large fish have been found.

East Timor was "out of bounds" for paleontologists until recently because of the ongoing troubles with Indonesia. Information on ancient Man is changing scientific knowledge about our ancestors. Bone fish hooks dating back 42,000 years have been found there.

The diet of early Timorese was varied. It included birds, rodents, bats, snakes turtles and fish. Few large animals lived there. Half of the fish found were tuna, a fast moving fish that would have taken great skill to catch. Using nets was the only way, so they had an advanced culture.
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Paleontology